Rear-axle-housing construction



Nov. 27, 1928.

H. FORD REAR AXLE HOUSING CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 18, 1927 INVENTOR. 55 m1. 6. fizz/51 M224 f. i. QM.

A TTORNEYJ.

' 1,692,932 FICEV',

Patented Nov. 27, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT-F HENRY roan, or nnazanomr, momoim.

BEABY-AXLE-HOUSIING coNs'rRuo'rIoN. l

Application filed August 18, 1927. Serial N0. 213,777.

I The object of my invention is to provide a rear axle construction of simple,-durable and inexpensive construction.

Still a further object of my invention is -to provide a rear axle which is especially adapted for production, so that it may be made cheaply in large quantities and still have the requisite strength.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide a rear axle of. the drum type wherein the end or tube members of the axle are formed in four separate pieces which are subsequently welded together to form the end tube assembly, whereby the parts of the tube assembly may be manufactured from forgings requiring only simple forging dies, said forgings having a maximum strength 'due to the simplicity of the forging dies in which they are made. 7

Still a further object of my invention is to provide a special method of forming the drum member of the drum type axle wherein the body of the drum is rolled up from a channel section strip and then the sleeve which carries the driveshaft is formed from a separate forging and welded to the body of the drum.

Still a further ob'ect of my invention is to provide a rear axle ousing wherein the ends of the tubular parts of the axle may be providedwith flanges adapted to have a'brake anchor plate secured thereto and this flanged member may have a spring perch welded thereto whereby the means for supporting the s ring and the brake anchor plate may both e integral relative to vthe tubular portion of the axle and still have the hi h structural' strength of relatively simple orgings. With these and other objects in view my invention consists in the arrangement, combination, and construction, of the various parts of my improved device, as described inv the specification, claimed in the claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fi ure 1 shows an elevation of a rear axle housing constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 shows the same housing, the parts bein illustrated in their relative positions and before being welded.

Figure 3 shows an end view of the flange for supporting the brake anchor plate and the member which forms the spring perch for the rear spring.

Figure 4 shows a side elevation of the parts forming the drum proper, before said parts are welded together.

Figure 5 shows a vertical central longitudinal sectional view throu h the forging which forms the sleeve at the front end of the axle drum, and I Figure 6 shows a ros ective view of the blank used for forming t e body portion or main ortion of the drum.

Re erring to the accompanyin drawin I have used the reference'numera 10 to in i-' j of channel cross section which is rolled to form a broken ring as is illustrated at Figure 4, and which forms the main or body portion of the drum proper of a drum type axle.

The sleeve 11 extending from this drum is illustrated in detail in Figures 4 and fi.- This sleeve 1 i s a forging formed to provide a;

short central tube having a heavy bolting cate generally an elongated strip of material flange 19 at one end ada ted to be secured to the rear end of the riveshaft housing and having channel section extensions 20 at the other end adapted to be welded to the body 10 'ofgthe drum by means of an elecsiderable of the driving strain of the vehicle placed thereon and that it is ver difficult to form this sleeve on the drum so t at it will be readily formed and still withstand the large strains which are placed thereon. It

will be noted that the channel of the body of- .trical flash weld. In this connection it should be pointed out that the member 11 has conuniform structure from the ends of the body portion 10 of the drum. When the member 11 1s forged separately, the forging operation is a fairly simple one and then the channeled ends 20 of this sleeve member 11 may be readily welded to the ends of the channeled body member 10 of the drum.

Followin the welding of the member 11 to the mem or 10' to form the actual drum,

the parts are ofj course finished ed by dressing down the weld if. necessar and by machining the contact faces of t e drum and boring the necessary bolt or screw holes therein.

The tube assemblies in connection with my is relatively easily made.

improved axle construction are formed first from a tube member proper and then weldtapered tube of uniform gauge. v I consider this quite an important feature of my invention as the tube portion of the axle has not been forgedor otherwise treated so that there will be substantially no stresses or differences in-cross section with regard to the material 'of' the tube 12 at any place throughout its length.

The bell or horn at the inner-end of the tube is forged from a piece of steel in any of the usual ways in which forgin smay' be made. The outer end of the bell 13 is formed with the same diameter as the inner end of tube 12 so that these two ends may be flash welded together to form a unitar strong connection between the tube and bell: The piece 14 which forms the outer end of the axle is of generally cylindrical shape and has the annular securing flange 15 stuck up near one end thereof. It is formed by shearing bar stock to form blanks which are perforated in the direction of their length, forged to form a rough cylinder, and then upset to form the flange 15. This flange 15 is designed to have a pluralityof openings 16 formed therein whereby a brake anchor plate (not shown) may be secured to the flange 15.

' A spring perch member. is formed forging in the usual manner with a sleeve 17 forming the bearing for the spring shackle bolt (not shown) and a shank 18 which is designed to be welded to the u per edge of the securing flange 15. It will e noted that by forming this welded jointbetween the securing flan e 15 and the spring perch 17, I am enabled to make both forgings with a very uniform structure and consequently of great strength in roportion to the material used, and the we (1 between these pieces It will also be seen that if these parts were made from a single forging then it would be very hard to secure a good uniform structure and grain of the sleeve 17 of the spring perch if that relatively large section of material were forged from the blank which forms the flange 14 as all of the material for the sleeve 17 and shank 18 would have to be forced throu h the relatively narrow.- neck in the die lw ich forms the shank of the spring erc P This end member 14 of the'axle is formed with its inner end of substantially the same diameter as the outer end of the tube 12 so from a that these two ends may be flash welded together to form a unitary strong structure. In this'connection it will be noted t-hata large number of different schemes including from the use of my improved method of forming an axle housing, it should be first 1 pointed out that I have devised a method which enables me ,to form the various parts of my axle from sheet metal which does not have to be refor ed or rerolled or else to form-the parts rom forgings which are formed by the most convenient and eflicient method of forming the forgings so that the parts are all relatively stron for their weight and no excess weight nee be provided to provide for ordinary imperfections formed in the ordinary axle housings or for the inefliciency of the forging methods which mi ht otherwise be employed.

. till a further advantage results from the use of my improved method in that the parts of the axle are united by welding and areall of relatively small dimensions andeasily handled, so that the expense for handlin and for ji s or tools forvhandling is relatively sma 1. Still. a further advantage results from the fact that the stock used for the forgin for the various parts may be all of stan ard type and no special quality stock which cannot be readily secured on the open market is required.

Some-changes may be made in the arran e ment, construction, and combination of t e various parts of my improved device without departing from the spirit of my invention, and it is my intention to cover b my claims such changes as may be reasonab y inverted within the scope thereof.

I claim as my invention:

.1. In a method for forming drum axle housings, consisting of first forming the drum by rolling a channel section strip to form a broken ring, then forming a driveshaft sleeve having channel extensions from the edges thereof designed to com lete the drum,'then weldin said drivesha t sleeve extension to the bro en ring to complete thedrum, then forming tube members by first forming tapered tubes, then forming bells then forming axle end members having a securing flange and spring perch thereon, then welding the tubes to the bells and end members to form the tube members.

2. The method of forming the drum for a drum type rear axle housing consisting of rolling a strip of channel section to form a broken ring and then welding thereto a drive a sheet metal to from designed when welded to complete shaft sleeve having channel extensions theiiet 1e aforesaid ring1 of the drum.

3. The met 0d of forming a tube section for an axle housing consisting of rolling flat form a tapered tube, forming a bell and flash welding the bell to one end of said tube, forming an axle end member with a securing flange thereon, weldin a spring erch to said securing flange, and then wel ing the axle end member to the other end of the tube member. V

4:. The method of forming a rear axle housing tube comprising forming the tube proper by rolling rolled flat stock to form a tapered tube and then line weldin the tube to unite its butting edges, then welding va tapered welded tube a forged bell to the larger of said tube -by a flas weld, then welding a forged axle end member to the smaller end of said tube by a flash weld, the axle end member having a securing flange upset thereon and having an independently forged spring perch welded to said flange.

5. The method of forming a rear axle housing of the drum type consisting of forming a drum by welding a drive shaft connecting sleeve to a split ring of channel sec tion, and forming tube members by flash welding a forged bell and a forged end piece having an upset securing flange-thereon to ormed from strip stock. 4

HENRY FORD. 

